登陆注册
5253000000132

第132章

That's what I want to know. If we emancipate, are you willing to educate? How many families, in your town, would take a negro man and woman, teach them, bear with them, and seek to make them Christians? How many merchants would take Adolph, if I wanted to make him a clerk; or mechanics, if I wanted him taught a trade?

If I wanted to put Jane and Rosa to a school, how many schools are there in the northern states that would take them in? how many families that would board them? and yet they are as white as many a woman, north or south. You see, Cousin, I want justice done us. We are in a bad position. We are the more _obvious_ oppressors of the negro; but the unchristian prejudice of the north is an oppressor almost equally severe."

"Well, Cousin, I know it is so," said Miss Ophelia,--"I know it was so with me, till I saw that it was my duty to overcome it; but, I trust I have overcome it; and I know there are many good people at the north, who in this matter need only to be _taught_ what their duty is, to do it. It would certainly be a greater self-denial to receive heathen among us, than to send missionaries to them; but I think we would do it."

"_You_ would I know," said St. Clare. "I'd like to see anything you wouldn't do, if you thought it your duty!"

"Well, I'm not uncommonly good," said Miss Ophelia. "Others would, if they saw things as I do. I intend to take Topsy home, when I go. I suppose our folks will wonder, at first; but I think they will be brought to see as I do. Besides, I know there are many people at the north who do exactly what you said."

"Yes, but they are a minority; and, if we should begin to emancipate to any extent, we should soon hear from you."

Miss Ophelia did not reply. There was a pause of some moments; and St. Clare's countenance was overcast by a sad, dreamy expression.

"I don't know what makes me think of my mother so much, tonight," he said." I have a strange kind of feeling, as if she were near me. I keep thinking of things she used to say. Strange, what brings these past things so vividly back to us, sometimes!"

St. Clare walked up and down the room for some minutes more, and then said, "I believe I'll go down street, a few moments, and hear the news, tonight."

He took his hat, and passed out.

Tom followed him to the passage, out of the court, and asked if he should attend him.

"No, my boy," said St. Clare. "I shall be back in an hour."

Tom sat down in the verandah. It was a beautiful moonlight evening, and he sat watching the rising and falling spray of the fountain, and listening to its murmur. Tom thought of his home, and that he should soon be a free man, and able to return to it at will. He thought how he should work to buy his wife and boys.

He felt the muscles of his brawny arms with a sort of joy, as he thought they would soon belong to himself, and how much they could do to work out the freedom of his family. Then he thought of his noble young master, and, ever second to that, came the habitual prayer that he had always offered for him; and then his thoughts passed on to the beautiful Eva, whom he now thought of among the angels; and he thought till he almost fancied that that bright face and golden hair were looking upon him, out of the spray of the fountain.

And, so musing, he fell asleep, and dreamed he saw her coming bounding towards him, just as she used to come, with a wreath of jessamine in her hair, her cheeks bright, and her eyes radiant with delight; but, as he looked, she seemed to rise from the ground; her cheeks wore a paler hue,--her eyes had a deep, divine radiance, a golden halo seemed around her head,--and she vanished from his sight; and Tom was awakened by a loud knocking, and a sound of many voices at the gate.

同类推荐
  • 佛说未曾有正法经

    佛说未曾有正法经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 春草斋集

    春草斋集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上五星七元空常诀

    太上五星七元空常诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 注华严同教一乘策

    注华严同教一乘策

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 历朝释氏资鉴

    历朝释氏资鉴

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 网游之恐惧先锋

    网游之恐惧先锋

    游戏哪来那么多问题,怎么快活怎么来啊!这是每一个位先锋的回答。
  • When the Sleeper Wakes

    When the Sleeper Wakes

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 国师大人请克制

    国师大人请克制

    一代女帝,众人谈之色变的修炼鬼才,精医毒,擅权谋。一朝被袭,重生之后却成为无法修炼的废柴一枚,本是天子骄子,又岂能任由凡夫俗子放肆!且看她将天玄地宝尽收囊中,绝世秘籍视同草芥。可没想到那个国师竟然不要脸的缠上来,喂,国师大人,麻烦矜持点!
  • 上海滩捕房

    上海滩捕房

    一九二四年九月十五日上午,花旗烟草公司总公司的总裁陆锡侯正在办公,一个职员走进屋,送来一叠信件同往日一样,陆锡侯一封一封地仔细查阅,有封信的信封十分褶皱、肮脏,引起了他的注意。公司的来往公文一向都是十分整洁的,这封怎么会如此肮脏?他抽出来特意查阅,打开一读,不禁一惊,这封信是花旗烟草公司杭州分公司经理孙玉振写来的,内容是说,他于昨天出离公司办事,归来途中被两名匪人绑架,匪人要求公司出资五千元,于明天晚上七时将钱送到湖北路邮电局门前,交给取款人以赎身,如果招来侦探,孙玉振的性命难保。
  • 端溪砚谱

    端溪砚谱

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 末世之深渊召唤师

    末世之深渊召唤师

    深渊。这是这片土地的名字。无限层面的无底深渊。这里是无穷无尽,令人窒息的恐怖之地。这里是环境极其恶劣,生命极其危险之地。深渊。致力于死亡和毁灭的恶魔家园,亦是,陈锋是否能够在这末日生存最大的保障。身处末日,陈锋的能力便是沟通深渊,凭借力量亦或是一些特殊的祭品,能够从深渊之中召唤恶魔为己所用。他是……深渊召唤师。
  • 都市驱鬼录

    都市驱鬼录

    只要一提起‘妖魔鬼怪’的传说,我们总是会感觉后背发凉,尤其是在夜晚更甚之!可是,我们的这个世界到底存不存在着这些生物呢?如果真的存在着,那么我们又该如何给其一个明确的定义呢?
  • 旧德堂医案

    旧德堂医案

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说一切如来金刚三业最上秘密大教王经

    佛说一切如来金刚三业最上秘密大教王经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 米欧,我的米欧

    米欧,我的米欧

    一个孤儿院出来的孩子布赛,在养父母家受尽白眼、呵斥。他渴望得到家庭温暖、渴望见到亲生父亲。突然有一天,他被一种神秘力量送到了“遥远之国”。在这里,他见到了自己的爸爸,而爸爸竟然就是这个国家的国王。爸爸称他“米欧,我的米欧”,给予他极大的爱心。但一个可怕的阴影慢慢侵入他的生活,因为在“遥远之国”的另一端“域外之国”,生活着残暴骑士卡托,他有一只铁手和一颗用石头做的心,他把小孩抓走变成鸟……米欧带着历史使命,带着父王的重望出发了,他要与邪恶做一番生死较量!